The evolution of computing devices from high-cost, low performance data processing systems to low cost, high-performance communication, problem solving, and entertainment systems has provided a cost-effective and time saving means to lessen the burden of performing every day tasks such as correspondence, bill paying, shopping, budgeting, and information gathering. For example, a computing system interfaced to a network by way of wire and/or wireless technology can provide a user with a channel for nearly instantaneous access to a wealth of information. For instance, mobile telephones can be configured to receive updates with respect to sporting events, traffic, stocks, mutual funds, sales events with respect to particular stores, etc. Thus, a vast amount of information can now be provided to a mobile user by way of a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, and the like.
Various deficiencies exist with respect to viewing applications upon such mobile devices. In particular, screen sizes often associated with the devices are quite small, thereby failing to provide a user with adequate context with respect to a viewed object. For example, portable devices can be provided with a mapping application that can display a map of a geographic region. Rendering the map to enable a user to view such map and obtain desired data therefrom, however, is difficult due to a small size of a display region. For instance, the user may desire to view a portion of particular road, but upon viewing such road the user lacks context associated with the road. Specifically, the user may not be able to determine location of freeways, bridges, and other entities related to the road. In another example, if a substantial amount of geographic region is provided to a user on a small display region, then details desirably viewed by the user may not be available. For instance, road names may be indiscernible and/or not provided, and roads or geographic regions of interest to a user can be completely omitted from the map.
To make up for some of these deficiencies, manual mechanisms for altering a display region have been provided for utilization with mobile devices. Therefore, for example, a user can manually cause altitude of a displayed image to alter with respect to such user. More specifically, through depressing one or more buttons or selecting a function, images upon a display can be subject to enlargement or reduction. Furthermore, regions can be traversed over through manually entering commands or depressing one or more buttons. Thus, users can view desired regions to retrieve information of interest to such users through manual actions. Requiring a user to manually traverse an object and/or region, however, can be problematic. In particular, as devices become increasingly diminutive, probabilities of accidentally depressing an undesired key (thereby resulting in effectuation of unwanted functionality) can increase. Accordingly, usability of a mapping application or similar application can be negatively affected, and user angst directed towards such application can be rapidly intensified. Furthermore, multi-tasking is made more difficult by necessitating manual interaction with a mobile device to view a region in an acceptable context.